“Let me get this straight: All the sacrifices of body and mind I and countless others have made to progress the discipline of slopestyle have now been reduced to the byproduct of an MTV show … by someone that is ‘hosting’ the Olympics? On behalf of NBC’s snowboarding coverage team I apologize to everyone in the sport. This does not represent the feelings of the people that work hard to bring you the snowboarding broadcasts.”

During the interview, Costas told Lauer he meant his comments in the “kindest possible sense.” The segment has since been pulled from NBC’s site and replaced with a blue “usage restrictions” slate.

Below, you’ll find pictures of the first day of the U.S. Snowboarding and Freeskiing Grand Prix in Colorado.